Chapter 157: Remember that World Without Gunsmoke
The group Leng Feng led had people from different fractions; one was trying to look for survivors while the other was fulfilling orders to find provisions. When trouble came around, naturally they would only care about their own goals. Especially since the spatial ability holders were cultivated with blood and sweat by the higher ups and no matter who they lost, it would be devastating.
When the soldier learned that Pei Ran wanted to enter the base, it so happened that the military doctor conducting the examinations was a familiar face. So he directly took them through the back door to the body examination area.
“You will be able to enter as long as you have been checked over for any wounds. There are living spaces in the base, but water, electricity, and rent must be paid for with contribution points. There is a hall in the central district that gives out missions. Every time you finish a mission, you can receive contribution points. There are many ability holders who have already created their own groups to go kill zombies but if you don’t want to do any missions, you can also exchange for points with orbs.”
The soldier found another soldier to take over his position as he was worried that Pei Ran didn’t understand. He did his best to help explain the rules of the base and accompanied him all the way through the grounds to avoid any additional issues that might pop up.
Pei Ran felt as if he was taking advantage of the soldier’s generosity a bit too much,
“Then we must trouble you.”
The soldier looked a bit young and was probably a new recruit. He immediately responded with,
“This is what I should do. Captain Leng is currently busy, attending some meetings, but if he were here, he would be even more grateful to you. We few brother-in-arms haven’t awakened any abilities and if it hadn’t been for you, we would have lost our lives yesterday. Comrade, thank you for saving us.”
He said the last sentence in a very serious and respectful manner, and he even gave a very proper military salute.
Water was in short supply these days and without an ability, they probably didn’t have it so good. Seeing how the soldier’s lips were cracked and pale, his voice hoarse, Pei Ran handed his backpack over to Qu Yan and grabbed a bottle of water to stuff into the soldier’s hands,
“You’ve had it hard. Have some water, I hope you don’t mind.”
The soldier paused and went to refuse him when he was suddenly presented with five more bottles of water. In shock, he quickly said,
“No no no, water is in very short supply nowadays and you’ve both just arrived at the base. There are many places where you would need to use it, no need to give it to me……”
Pei Ran’s dimensional space was not organized, so he was only randomly grabbing items from it. Using the backpack as a cover, he pretended to search through it and grabbed a plastic bag to stuff some snacks inside before giving the bag to the soldier. Acting just like a typical naive wealthy second generation son.
“No worries, no worries. I saw some soldiers still working hard behind you. Share it with your fellow comrades.”
The soldier truly had not expected Pei Ran to be so generous. These days, who wouldn’t be hiding what they had, even if it was just to hide from those with bad intentions. He was very grateful but also felt uneasy. He wanted to return everything but Pei Ran had already walked away with Qu Yan.
A female military doctor who was nearby couldn’t help but laugh upon seeing the soldier with a handful of provisions standing there frozen like a dummy. Floundering in confusion, he looked as if a bomb had been thrown at him.
“Ah, so that handsome fellow knew you huh. Why did he give you so much water?”
Although the base passed out rations of water everyday, it was only a tiny jug, containing an amount that wasn’t enough to sate one’s thirst. So, seeing the soldier with the bottles of water in hand, everyone was casting envious looks at him.
The soldier started to sweat from all the attention,
“Oh no, remember how our team got ambushed by that zombie horde yesterday? The one who saved us was him. I had wanted to show him around the base so he could get more familiar with it, but then he just gave so much stuff to me. How could I accept this? If the Captain knew, he would kill me……”
The female military doctor immediately understood the situation,
“Oh, so he was that electric type ability holder your Captain was talking about. I had wondered why you would suddenly let people cut the line. Since he gave these to you, keep it. When they run into a situation they can’t handle, you can help them out then.”
The soldier was still hesitant.
The military doctor shook her head as she continued on with her duties,
“New soldiers are always so timid. Have you been bullied so much by Leng Feng that your brain’s all scrambled up? He’s an electric type ability holder. When his ability level rises higher and higher, he’s going to get recruited by the higher ups. Would he be lacking in provisions then?”
The soldier thought that this was quite true and so accepted the supplies. He set the bags of snacks on her table, cheeks red as he said,
“He told me to split the supplies with my colleagues. I’m going to take the water, but I’ll leave the food for you ladies.”
Most of the military doctors in charge of the body examinations were women and they had just been neck deep in work. When they heard his words, they all looked over and exclaimed with surprise,
“Omona, they even gave you snacks?”
“Xiao-Cen, you’re amazing! Next time your Captain Leng punishes you, we will definitely try and ask him to be lenient!”
“That’s right, that’s right!”
The base was split into two polar opposite districts right now. Inside was like a small city; those with power, with abilities, lived in the central district while those who couldn’t even afford a place to rent lived on the outer circle where people would just buy a tent and camp right on the grassy areas. Looking throughout the base, all one could see were multicolored tents and crowds of people.
But no matter what kind of situation, clever people would always find the best way to survive.
When Pei Ran and Qu Yan walked into the base, they immediately attracted numerous eyes. Crouching by the roadside was a little boy, around ten or so years old, and he was the fastest to react, immediately shooting forward like a cannon.
Pei Ran had been frightened once previously and upon seeing the boy approach, immediately hid behind Qu Yan as if someone had just stepped on his tail. But that child had a perception of boundaries and stopped right before them. He lifted his face that was only about the size of a palm, and he first looked at the calm Qu Yan and then at the “overly frightened” Pei Ran. As if he was reciting lines, he bolstered up his courage and stuttered out,
“Misters, you…… is this your first time here? If there is anything you do not understand, you can ask me…… I only take one orb as payment.”
Qu Yan stared at him for a bit and then turned his head away. There was no pity or sadness in those eyes, looking like he wasn’t quite interested in children, and coldly said,
“You’re even more clingy than him.”
Seeing them not responding, the child subconsciously grasped onto the corners of his shirt tightly. He then bravely tried again,
“Orbs can be exchanged for contribution points, which must be obtained with an identification card. You must go to the central district’s Ability Hall for this, and I can…… I can help show you the way.”
And then carefully stuck out a finger and said,
Pei Ran walked out from behind Qu Yan and upon seeing many adults crouched on the ground waiting by the roadside, all seemingly staring towards them, he helplessly said,
The child finally smiled and quickly went ahead to lead them. He was skipping as he ran and would occasionally look back to see if Pei Ran and Qu Yan were keeping up.
With one arm around Qu Yan’s shoulders, Pei Ran couldn’t help but ask a few questions as he had noticed that the child did not seem to be older than ten or so,
“Kid, what’s your name? Where are your parents?”
The child answered seriously,
“My name is Ding Si Hao. My dad was wounded by a zombie and died. My mom cleans at the base to earn points. She has been sick these past few days, unable to work, and I must earn points to exchange medicine for my mom.”
Although his clothes were a bit dirty, the fabric itself was of a very nice material; before the apocalypse his family had probably not been in too bad of a state.
“Who asked you to do this to earn orbs?”
The child gripped onto the corners of his shirt as he said,
“Those uncles and aunties taught me….. they knew that my mom was sick and they helped out. Auntie Chen said you were dressed very neatly and cleanly, and she has never seen you around the base so you must be a newly arrived ability holder. She let me lead the way so I can earn orbs this way.”
Pei Ran couldn’t help but compliment,
As they conversed, they reached the Ability Hall. People were moving in and out, and there was no end to the people coming in to register. Ding Si Hao led them to a machine and explained like he was an adult in a child’s body,
“You must go to the front desk to enter your information and then receive your points card. This card is very important and you must not lose it. Everyone must also go through an ability test.”
Pei Ran nodded his head and followed Qu Yan up to the front desk. At the worker’s request, they gave their fingerprints and identification.
“Hello, please place your hand on the device. It will record information on your ability.”
There was a machine in the Ability Hall, about half the height of a human. From far away, it looked a bit like a photocopier, but with the many translucent wisps emitting from it, Pei Ran knew this must be something to test their abilities. Under the worker’s stare, he put his hand in and a blue light scanned over him. Following the feeling of an extremely faint current of electricity running over him, the monitor display lit up and showed a lightning emoji and the number 3.
The worker’s face immediately changed upon this, smiling as he passed over a points card and an advertisement flyer. With more respect underlying his tone than before, he said,
“Electric type level 3. The Mission Hall has quite a few missions to give out and you can group up with others to earn higher contribution points.”
Pei Ran had known what his level was so he was not surprised; he was only curious about Qu Yan’s. With great curiosity, he pushed Qu Yan over to the machine and said,
“Go go go, let’s check out what level you are at. You must be higher than me.”
Qu Yan smiled and gave him a look before slipping his hand in. A flash of blue light swept across and the monitor displayed an image of a brain with the number 4 following behind it.
This really surprised the worker. He had not thought that he would be able to meet two high level ability holders today. He passed the contribution points card over and his attitude became even more subservient,
“Hello, your ability is the psychic type, level 4.”
Pei Ran paused in shock. He thought that Qu Yan should not just be at level 4; it did not fit the main character stereotype. He raised his eyebrow slightly and leaned over to whisper into Qu Yan’s ear,
Qu Yan lightly blew a breath of air by Pei Ran’s ear and teased him,
The machine in the center of the room was undoubtedly using wavelengths emitted by the brain related to ability strength to detect their level. Qu Yan only needed to control the fluctuation of his psychic ability and the machine wouldn’t be able to detect a thing. The gunshot will always hit the head of the bird that pokes out first1; without understanding what the current situation in the base was, he wouldn’t so blatantly give away all the cards in his hand.
There were quite a few people in the hall and when they were testing their levels, most were keeping an eye on the two. In a moment, all sorts of gazes were focused on them. There was even a gorgeous looking lady who invited them to join her team but was politely rejected by Pei Ran.
“Alright, I live in District A, 3rd floor, room 306. Name’s Tao, Tao Xi Ran. The 7th squad is my squad. If you both ever change your mind, come find me at any time.”
The woman had a very open personality and was not mad at being rejected. She smiled and then bid them farewell.
Pei Ran had a partner now so he displayed none of his Casanova tendencies. But it did not stop him from simply admiring beautiful ladies. Tao Xi Ran had an extraordinarily beautiful face, a bright light in the midst of this grey and dark world.
Qu Yan sensed his gaze and reached over to pinch Pei Ran’s chin. He forced the other to look at him and said with an indecipherable meaning to his words,
Qu Yan liked to wear black colored clothes. His skin was paler than others, and his elegant eyebrows could suddenly sharpen up. His pale fingers paired with his dark sleeves created a sharp contrast, and it was hard to find any other color on him; if it wasn’t white, then it was black.
Pei Ran dimwittedly said,
And then he lowered his head to kiss Qu Yan’s wrist with a laugh, and then added,
“But not as good looking as you.”
Qu Yan didn’t say anything, only hooking his lips up in an indecipherable manner. He let go of Pei Ran’s chin, lowering his eyes and lightly massaging the slightly reddened mark on the other’s chin. He was very gentle but his voice was interlaced with cold droplets of ice,
“Don’t look next time. Or I will be angry, you know……”
When he was mad, he didn’t know what he himself would or could do.
Pei Ran cupped Qu Yan’s face in curious surprise, squishing the other’s cheeks into puffy balls. He said the following words that really made others want to beat him up,
“Ah? You can be angry huh. Let me tell you, this is not called being angry, this is called being jealous.”
Ding Si Hao had been crouching by the door of the Ability Hall to wait for them. Bored, he picked up a stone and started to write english letters on the ground. He was very serious with each stroke. As someone who did not like to go to school, always playing games in class, he wanted nothing more than to sit back in a classroom again.
Through that classroom window that could block out the ash and the smoke, everything written on the chalkboard, each stroke, each character signalled peace.
A shadow suddenly fell on his head and Ding Si Hao lifted his head up on reflex. When he saw that it was Pei Ran and Qu Yan, he immediately stood up from the floor.
This was the first time Pei Ran saw someone who was even more dense than himself and he said with delight,
“Kid, your head’s almost buried in the ground. If we had run off, you wouldn’t even know it.”
Ding Si Hao blinked, his eyes so innocent and looking right at him, not knowing what to say.
Pei Ran searched through his pockets and then gave him an orb,
Ding Si Hao’s eyes brightened up, his hands carefully receiving the orb. Then he bowed,
Pei Ran did not immediately leave and instead knelt down in front of the child and asked,
“What illness did your mother contract?”
Ding Si Hao pursed his lips and said, “A fever.”
A fever. That was still ok. Not that serious. If it was any other illness that required surgery or whatnot, that would be the real killer in the apocalypse.
Medicine was in rare supply these days and even if you had contribution points, you might not be able to exchange them for any; basically high demand and no supply. Pei Ran had swept through a pharmacy before but not a lot of the medicine he picked up was for common illnesses. After a moment of contemplation, he grabbed a sheet of fever reducing pills, the specially packaged extra strength ones that only had two pills per sheet.
“Kid, give this to your mother when you get home. Hide it well in your pockets and don’t let anyone steal it. Got it?”
Ding Si Hao’s heart was racing madly as he grasped onto the pills tightly. With wide eyes, he said,
“I…… I have no orbs to exchange for this.”
Pei Ran looked at the english phrases by his feet and couldn’t help but smile.
In a rare case of events, Pei Ran did not mind that the child was dirty and patted his head. He dragged Qu Yan away with him, planning to head to the Exchange Hall to exchange for some points and rent a place.
Sometimes Qu Yan thought Pei Ran was too nice but he wasn’t that detestable. He lowered his head and stared at the elongated shadows, saying,
“You keep being this generous and people will eye you as a target.”
Pei Ran didn’t mind. He hooked an arm around Qu Yan’s neck, pulling the other into his embrace. Still, with that confident attitude paired with pupils that lightened in color in the sun, he was shining like a beacon,
“What am I afraid of? I have you to protect me.”
No one who faced against the main character had a good ending.
Now that the protagonist was his = those enemies of his would also not have a good ending.
There was nothing wrong with this kind of relationship and it was even quite delightful.
Pei Ran did not mind giving out his supplies.
Although food and medicine were rare, weren’t humans a kind of living thing too? They would help each other, they have their good and bad, and in this long life they lived, no one would be able to live only caring about themselves and ignoring the world around them.
Editor Notes: In the novel the words ‘sun, bird, flower’ were written in both english and the chinese. For the translation we decided to use a different font to differentiate between the two languages.
*1 This is an idiom that means you shouldn’t always show so much of your strengths or what you have or be ahead of the pack so to say, as you’ll always be the target, the person that will always come to mind to be “taken down”.